What if I make the work that really, really touches people? And they feel, “Hey, my God, that’s genuine human emotion put out there for all the right reasons." I guess I am entirely an idealist. I believe that authentic communication can cut through.

On Mansfield Park's official Miramax website, the book upon which the film is loosely based is heralded as Jane Austen's third and most controversial novel. This claim, directed at Mansfield Park the novel, seems an attempt to re-invigorate interest in a text oftentimes considered Austen's blandest.